"ملخص تاريخي للأحداث في أراضي الإمبراطورية العثمانية، فارس وشبه الجزيرة العربية التي تؤثر على الموقف البريطاني في الخليج الفارسي، ١٩٠٧-١٩٢٨" [ظ‎‎١‎٢] (١٨٨/٣١)

and therefore, whatever her hostility to Russia, desired to remain neutral during the
at r ." , le mairi tenance of a not unfriendly neutrality by Persia was what His
s T V ,0Vernment desired most ' for as a feeble ally she would have been a
wf * Nv . er ® strongly opposed to assuming dangerous commitments in Persia,
'ntisli political and commercial interests were so great, especially in the south
and soutli-west and the oil-field near Mohammerah, that no British Government
coa a maintain an attitude of complete detachment towards Persian affairs.
Among the influences hostile to the Allies was that of the Swedish officers of the
eisian gendarmerie. Almost to a man, they were anti-Kussian, pro-German and
industnous m preaching the military inferiority of the Allies, the might of Germany,
and the certainty of ultimate German triumph in the war. Their influence was
particularly strong and correspondingly dangerous in the South Persian Province of
t ars, ever prone to lawlessness and disorder.
1 he country was soon flooded with German and Turkish consuls and agents,
wlio used every artifice of propaganda to discredit the Allies and inflame the Govern
ment and people against them, and bring Persia into the war. Enemy efforts were
much assisted by high-handed Russian action at the end of 1914, in recruiting; a
lorce of Persians to fight the Turks, and in diverting the Persian Cossack Brigade
a Persmn Government formation under Russian officers, to the same purpose.
Hatred ot Russia and the acute delight Persians discovered in seein"- Russia flouted
y eimany m Persia, ensured the ready acceptance of enemv propaganda, and
caused public opinion to oppose any Government action that might have limited
uerman activities.
From the opening weeks of the war Turkish and Russian forces had violated
Persian territory m Azerbaijan. At the end of January 1915 Turkish troops
advanced irom Mesopotamia, entered Persia, and destroyed sections of the pipe-line
to Abaaan. I hereupon British troops also entered Persia and occupied Ahwaz for
the protection of the oil-fields. The Persian Government professed the intention of
resisting lurkish aggression m this region by arms; but found so much pro-Turkish
sympathy among their people that they refrained, and protested against the British
occupation of Ahwaz.
In May 1915, when the situation in Tehran, Shiraz, and the hinterland of
shire had grown considerably worse, His Majesty's Government decided that they
would leave the interior of Persia alone and confine themselves for the present to
holding the Bushire peninsula. In July the town of Bushire was unsuccessfully
attacked by tribes under German influence; but in August the town and peninsula
were occupied by troops from India. As the chief trade route from the Gulf ran
Irom Bushire to Shiraz, and passed thence through Persia to Central Asia, Bushire
was a position of the utmost importance, and was repeatedly attacked at German
instigation, though without success. The Persian Government, too, made insistent
ettorts to negotiate the evacuation of the peninsula by our troops. But the conditions
Mis Majesty s Government laid down involved the restoration of security on the
bmraz road, and as this could not be assured, our occupation continued.
One of the chief objects the Germans had in view was to reach Afghanistan
India and Central Asia Irom Persia. A German-Turco Mission, bearing an
autograph letter from the German Emperor to the Ameer of Afghanistan, arrived
m Persia m the spring of 1915. During the following summer the mission, broken
up into small armed columns, began making its way from Isfahan towards the
Atghan frontier; each party was too strong to be arrested without actual fighting-
and the Persian Government would not undertake the responsibility of employing
force to that extent. It remained, therefore, for Great Britain and"Russia to take
steps to mtercept these detachments. On the British part, this was done by
establishing the East Persia Cordon from the Indian Ocean to Biriand- from
Birjand northward to Meshed the duties of the patrol were undertaken by Russia
{^2 emen T e f f ec l lve % the extent that onl y the P art y headed by the German
. T ( ^ kabul. But German efforts w T ere so persistent, and the dangers
apprehended from them so great that before the end of the war the cordon had grown
into the East Persia Field Force.
Allled a * 1 the Dardanelles produced immediate reactions in
Persia. In the summer of 1915 the attitude of the Persian officers of the gendarmerie
at Sniraz, countenanced by the Swedish officers, became so hostile that His Majesty's
Government withheld the financial support they had hitherto given the force. Tn
'!" nT ■y e ® r ' when the Dardanelles expedition had plainly failed the Shah
and Government fell more than ever under enemy influence. The Germans were
virtually masters m Kermanshah, Isfahan and Shiraz, and had good prospects of